Never-Before-Seen Photo Could Be Clue to Explain Amelia Earhart Mystery

The photo is believed to have been taken by a spy who was later executed by Japan

Receive the latest national-international updates in your inbox

A newly uncovered photograph suggests legendary pilot Amelia Earhart and her navigator survived their mysterious 1937 plane disappearance, according to evidence from a History Channel documentary shared with the "Today" show 80 years and three days after they vanished.

The image, discovered in a formerly top secret American file, appears to show Earhart and Fred Noonan on a dock in the Marshall Islands, and investigators, including an NBC News analyst, believe her plane can be seen on a barge being towed by a Japanese ship in the background.

The photo is believed to have been taken by a spy who was later executed by Japan, which investigators believe imprisoned the pair of aviators in Saipan, where Noonan was executed and Earhart died.

Japan's Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry and National Archives tell NBC News they have no documents of Earhart being in their custody. However, many records from that time were destroyed during or after World War II.

Newly Released Video Before Amelia Earhart's Last Flight

Black-and-white film of Amelia Earhart before her last flight has surfaced. It was taken at Burbank Airport in California and features her last photoshoot before she flew most of the way around the world and disappeared.

(Published Tuesday, June 9, 2015)

The History Channel is running a two-hour documentary on Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET.